Abstract: Individuals who are interested in products and/or areas of expertise and who have a certain influence with others in that area of expertise are incentivized to increase their awareness of an knowledge of that area of expertise as well as the manufacturers' products within that area of expertise through various activities. Activities that are incentivized may include gaining information about products and brands through participating in or consuming training materials, by purchasing or otherwise owning the products and brands, through experience, and the like. As the individuals gain knowledge about the area of expertise, the brands, and the products, the individuals gain influence and ability to inform others about the brands and products and their features and benefits. The manufacturers benefit because they now have a large number of individuals able to act on the manufacturers' behalf in informing others of the features and benefits of the manufacturers' products.

Abstract: A hearing compensation system for the hearing impaired comprises an input transducer for converting acoustical information at an input to electrical signals at an output, an output transducer for converting electrical signals at an input to acoustical information at an output, a plurality of bandpass filters, each bandpass filter having an input connected to the output of said input transducer, a plurality of AGC circuits, each individual AGC circuit associated with a different one of the bandpass filters and having an input connected to the output of its associated bandpass filter and an output connected to the input of the output transducer. The bandpass filters and AGC circuits may be divided into two processing channels, one for low frequencies and one for high frequencies and may drive separate audio transducers, one configured for maximum efficiency at low frequencies and one configured for maximum efficiency at high frequencies.

Abstract: A hearing compensation system for the hearing impaired comprises an input transducer for converting acoustical information at an input to electrical signals at an output, an output transducer for converting electrical signals at an input to acoustical information at an output, a plurality of bandpass filters, each bandpass filter having an input connected to the output of said input transducer, a plurality of AGC circuits, each individual AGC circuit associated with a different one of the bandpass filters and having an input connected to the output of its associated bandpass filter and an output connected to the input of the output transducer.

Abstract: A hearing compensation system for the hearing impaired comprises an input transducer for converting acoustical information at an input to electrical signals at an output, an output transducer for converting electrical signals at an input to acoustical information at an output, a plurality of bandpass filters, each bandpass filter having an input connected to the output of said input transducer, a plurality of AGC circuits, each individual AGC circuit associated with a different one of the bandpass filters and having an input connected to the output of its associated bandpass filter and an output connected to the input of the output transducer.

Abstract: A method and apparatus for sharpening signal peaks in a signal representing the distribution of biological or chemical components of a mixture separated by a chromatographic technique such as, but not limited to, electrophoresis. A key step in the method is the use of a blind deconvolution technique, presently embodied as homomorphic filtering, to reduce the contribution of a blurring function to the signal encoding the peaks of the distribution. The invention further includes steps and apparatus directed to determination of a nucleotide sequence from a set of four such signals representing DNA sequence data derived by electrophoretic means.

Abstract: A method of developing a set of colorant signals representing substantially exact amounts of colorants required to reproduce a color in a medium includes the steps of using a scanner to develop a first set of scanner signals, processing the set of scanner signals in an iterative conversion loop and selecting a set of colorant estimates developed by the iterative conversion loop that meets a solution criterion as the set of colorant signals. The colorant signals may thereafter be converted to colorimetric data by a converter.

Abstract: The present invention includes an arrangement for averaging the content of first-in-first-out buffers of each track of a multi-channel digital tape recorder for controlling tape speed to enable a smooth over-dubbing of information recorded at different times on separate tracks.

Abstract: The synchronization circuitry can be described as operating in essentially four states and is particularly useful at startup, to locate synchronization codes and spacing there between in the data flows. In operation, the synchronization circuitry looks in a data flow at startup for any sync code and, when such sync code is found, counts ahead to where the next sync code should be. If a proper sync code is found, again the circuitry counts ahead to where the next sync code should be, continuing looking at points along the data flow until a certain number (n) of properly located sync codes are discovered whereat synchronization is declared and normal playback is ordered. However, if sync codes are not located where they should be in the data flow, then such failures are subtracted from success until either (n) successes are found or a total of successes less failures reaches zero whereat the circuitry returns to the first state of looking for any sync code.

Abstract: The present invention involves an apparatus and method for processing of digital information that includes duplication of information from each channel of a multi-channel recorder on main and backup tracks and provides a combination of error detection apparatus and procedures where data groupings or words on each track are individually subject to four separate tests for detecting errors and provides, from that analysis, for a selection of most likely correct data for further processing. Additionally, further system reliability is obtained by providing circuitry whereby a detected error activates a selection of data groupings coming before and after the detected error, providing where appropriate, for switching from main to backup track data over a certain number of data groupings.

Abstract: The present invention involves apparatus and techniques for converting analog data, preferably audio signals, to digital information, which digital information is preferably recorded from two separate main channels onto main tracks and includes a third or backup track for recording thereon partial or most significant portions of that information recorded on the main tracks.